Don’t Find Yourself – Find Yourself Friends
5 reasons why friendships are priceless
Hello there - in a rushed world,
Here comes your weekly permission to Un-rush and Stress Less.
Timeless insights and impulses on how the power of slow helps you grow - in a rushing world crushing your life.
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INSIGHT
Two Things Carry You Through Life, Your Health, And Your Friends
Let’s look at friendships and 5 reasons why they are priceless
Two things carry you through life, your health, and your friends.
Both are precious and priceless.
For me, they are the two most important things in life you can have.
Let’s talk about friends and friendships.
Do you have friends?
I would assume so. Through many discussions, articles, and research, I was proven wrong with my assumption that it is normal that everyone has friends.
For me, having friends, all my life, seemed normal and natural. I love them, appreciate them, and care for them. The friendships were built while growing up and while walking through life. They mean A LOT to me, I always felt friends are a vital part of my life. Which means I spend time nurturing and taking care of friendships.
Here we have one reason why some people might have difficulties building and maintaining friendships: it’s the factor of TIME. Creating and caring for relationships requires time. Caring for others means slowing down and giving your attention to them.
Here are 5 reasons why you want to invest some of your time into friendships.
Friends Add More Years To Your Life, And Life To Your Years
There is a growing body of research on the effects of community and friends on our well-being. It turns out that people who are more socially connected to family, friends, acquaintances, neighbors, and community, are happier and healthier, and they live longer than people who are less well-connected.
Smoking Is Bad For Your Health – But Not Having Friends Is Even Worse For Your Health
The New York Times wrote in an opinion piece in 2017 that “neglecting our social relationships is actually shockingly dangerous to our health. Research indicates that a lack of social connection carries with it a risk of premature death comparable to that of smoking and is roughly twice as dangerous to our health as obesity.”
Friends Are Your Emotional And Inspirational Support System
In studies and surveys, people consistently report themselves happier when they are around other people instead of being on their own. Surprisingly, this effect is not just true for people who consider themselves extroverts but equally strong for introverts as well.
Healthy Relationships Can Boost Your Brain Power
One way to give your brain a booster is through caring for deep and healthy friendships and relationships with others. Those connections make us more mindful, conscious, and compassionate and help us to create powerful connections in our brain circuits.
Friendships Offer Warmth And Happiness
The author Kat Vellos puts it nicely in her book “We Should Get Together”: friends “witness the milestones and unexpected changes of life, the highs, and lows, celebrations, and sadness.”
HERE IS WHAT YOU WANT TO REMEMBER
Consider your friends as long-term beautiful adventures, and therefore, they might be the most significant thing you can have to add more years to your life. They also add more life and joy to your years.
The most significant thing you can do for your well-being is to invest as much time and effort as you can into nurturing the relationships you have with the people in your life.
IMPULSES
Curated stories on the topic of slowing down and stressing less, designed to open up new ways of looking at why you should give yourself permission to un-rush.
If You Feel Young, You Die Old
See what science has found out for us: People who don't feel as old as they are live longer and happier lives. So, I cross my fingers that I live long, as I do not feel as old as what the number on the paper says. In addition, people with a positive self-perception stay healthier and live longer on average than people with negative perceptions.
Your chronological age is unchangeable. You were born on a particular day, and you spent a certain amount of time on this planet. Your biological age, also called physiological age, refers to how old your cells and tissues are based on physiological evidence – and can be changed. Things like diet, exercise, stress levels, sleep quality, and smoking can affect your biological age. You cannot change your birthday, but you can change your habits, which can make a big difference.
6 Things People Do Around The World To Slow Down
Different cultures have different approaches to how they practice slowing down in daily life. You can take some inspiration from calming rituals and traditions found across the world. Carl Honoré picked out six ideas from Japan’s forest bathing to Sweden’s coffee and cake break, South Africa and practicing kindness, to Italy’s indulging in doing nothing.
Slow and Fast on Ice Skates Through A Lost Forest
Canada, Quebec, and 15 kilometers of ice ways wove through pine and hardwood forests dotted with farm pens occupied by goats, sheep, ducks, deer, and more exotic animals, including an ostrich. Next to the alpaca enclosure, a repurposed phone booth dispensed handfuls of animal feed for a Canadian quarter. You skate fast or at your pace on ice paths through a forest, the Lost Forest, stop for feeding animals, or for a hot chocolate…
It sounds like a skater’s dream come true, a maze so vast that each turn seems new, sprinters’ drift-walled alleys; pine-dense spurs, four-way intersections, a heated snack bar in a tent, and a maple candy cabin in the woods.
How is that for taking it slow, enjoying winter, and taking a break?
You might not be in Canada to enjoy this forest skating, but you could do some forest bathing, Japanese Style, in your home forest. Take a break while the day is still bright, get some fresh air, and move your legs.
My friends have saved me, so many times.